Storm Seed by Janet & Chris Morris, is #7 in the Sacred Band series and this new release is the Author’s Cut edition from Perseid Press.

“What do you think might happen when a precocious immortal child who has never felt a father’s love throws a tantrum?

Or when an obsessed witch who has sold her soul to profanity fixates on the object of her desires, setting out to possess him at any cost?
What about the daughter who has fought long and hard to be accepted as an equal in a man’s world?

Or the lover, desperate to be taken seriously as a soulmate and partner?
In Storm Seed, you find the answers to all these questions – and more – as the avatar of the storm god Enlil gathers his scattered forces from the length and breadth of the universe to do battle on faraway Sandia.

But things are not as they seem and events both desperate and foul conspire against the Sacred Band in an effort to weaken their resolve. They contend with foes lurking within the heart, enemies that are just as deadly as those waiting for them in the darkest recesses of the alien stronghold; face tests of loyalty, to themselves, to each other and the very tenets by which they live; endure hardships severe enough to crush the spirit.
And then there’s the legend himself. It would seem even Tempus isn’t immune to the consequences his choices bring.

“Storm Seed” a superb example of how to write an action adventure that bridges the divide between science fiction and fantasy, and a classic that will endure the test of time. I loved the pace and intensity of this storyline. It keeps you riveted from the moment you start and doesn’t let go until the last page.”

Get your copy of Storm Seed in deluxe trade or digital editions at Amazon and everywhere . . .

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FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015

Interview of Authors from Heroika: Dragon Eaters

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This interview is an unusual treat, in that I am interviewing four authors from the recently released anthology,Heroika: Dragon EatersThe Authors:

L. Butcher is the British author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles series and several short stories in the fantasy and fantasy romance genre. She is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet and a dreamer. When she is grounded in the real world she likes science, natural history, history and monkeys. Her work has been described as ‘dark and gritty’.

Mark Finn is a fantasy and science fiction, essayist, and playwright. He is recognized as an authority on the Texas author Robert E. Howard and has written extensively on that subject.In 2007 he was nominated for World Fantasy Special Award: Professional.

Seth (S.E.) Lindberg lives near Cincinnati, Ohio working as a microscopist by day. Two decades of practicing chemistry, combined with a passion for the Sword & Sorcery genre, spurs him to write graphic adventure fictionalizing the alchemical humors.

Cas Peace is a fantasy and non-fiction writer from the UK. She’s also a singer/songwriter, horse-riding instructor, cactus grower, and dog lover.

What is one of the most interesting novels you’ve enjoyed in the past year and why?

Butcher: IX by Andrew Weston – it’s a time travelling heroic historical sci-fi. What attracted me to this book was the fact some of the main characters are from the missing IX Legion from Rome. It’s a fun book, with monsters (which aren’t what you think they are), adventure, courage, alternate history, space ships and much more.

Finn:City of Thieves, by David Benioff. A wonderful, picaresque story about two unlikely traveling companions forced into service during the Siege of Leningrad. Wonderful writing and really well-executed on all levels.

Lindberg: Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology: This anthology marks the catalyzing moment of the sub-genre “Sword & Soul” Charles R. Saunders is credited with starting the sub-genre with his Imaro tales (~1980). In 2011, Milton J. Davis (fellow chemist and Heroika author) expanded the front with this collection, including contributions from the Soul-champion himself, Saunders. Named after African storytellers who relied on the oral traditions, “Griots” is inspiring, unique, and history making.

Peace: I think that would have to be “The IX” by Andrew Weston. Part of the reason stems from the fact that I copy-edited this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and part comes from Andrew’s deft handling of his characters’ differing historical origins and the way this affects their contributions to the problems they face in the novel. I found the whole thing fascinating.

What is one technique or method that you’ve used to improve your writing?

Butcher: Reading. The more a writer reads, especially in a wide field of styles, the more one can find one’s own style and learn the rules.

Finn: I always read back out loud what I have written the day before. Not only does it serve to remind me where I left off, but it helps me do an immediate copy check for awkward phrasing, overused words, etc.

Lindberg: Going mental! Balancing a fun career with the duties of a father too, there is scarce dedicated time for writing. I’ve fallen into structured day dreaming, rehearsing scenes via each characters’ perspective. Being kept away from the writing-desk forces multiple iterations, but the frustration is rewarding when scenes are enhanced. This role playing can be done anywhere, anytime; a smartphone or notepad is needed to capture key dialogue and interactions to flesh out later.

Peace: I’m not sure if “used” is the right word, since that implies a deliberate act. Due to my editing and proofreading services I naturally get to read and work on a huge variety of different styles of writing. While picking my way through the vagaries of grammar, language, and syntax I often learn things I can apply to my own writing. It’s amazing how blind you can become to your own bad habits – copy-editing someone else’s really does help!

If it was possible, which author (living or deceased) would you like to share lunch with? What would you hope to discuss?

Butcher: That’s a tricky one… Dead – the list is long – Tolkien and discuss the influence of myth and fantasy, Alexandre Dumas to discuss revenge, Shakespeare – well he’s Shakespeare – did he write those plays or not? HG Wells – the direction of the future, Terry Pratchett on the fate of orangutans, Homer – and whether the nature of heroism has changed, Colin Wilson on the rise of the serial killer, and Jules Verne on subject of the fantastic. Now that’s a hell of a dinner party.

Living – I’m not sure….

Finn: This one is not fair, because in my capacity as an expert on Robert E. Howard, that question is a soft pitch. Obviously, me and Bob would talk about writing, creating musical phrases in prose, and as much as possible, I’d like to get him talking about his travels in Texas. That would be an entertaining lunch.Lindberg: Darrell Schweitzer: I personally discovered his masterful Mask Of The Sorcerer (published 1995) and We Are All Legends (published 1981) weeks after I literally walked beside him in 2010 (Columbus OH, World Fantasy Convention). To think I could have talked to him in person! I missed my chance then, but I’ll be attending again in 2016. I hope he attends and I can buy him a coffee at least.

Peace: I think it would have to be Anne McCaffrey. Her Pern novels were what got me into fantasy when I was a teen, and I still admire her work. I’d love to learn what inspired her and what her publishing journey was like. I always hoped to visit her home in Ireland, but haven’t made it yet.

Tell us a little about your story found in the Heroika: The Dragon Eaters, a heroic fiction anthology.

Butcher: “Of Blood and Scales” is a tale of courage, sacrifice and desperation. Oh and a great dragon…

It’s a tale of heroics to save a dying child and a land on the brink of war. It’s a tale of last resorts.

Finn: “Sic Semper Draconis” posits a time in the mid-to-late 1980s when giant time gates open up and spew forth all of the atmosphere, as well as the flora and fauna, of the late Cretaceous Period, and viola! Dinosaurs in Texas. The state would waste no time organizing an armed resistance—much like game wardens—to thin out the dangerous ones. It’s (I hope) an entertaining take on the hunter, becoming the hunted, and back to the hunter again type of story.

Lindberg:“Legacy of the Great Dragon” shows the Father of Alchemy entombing his singular source of magic, the Great Dragon. According to Greek and Egyptian myth, the god Thoth (a.k.a. Hermes) was able to see into the world of the dead and pass his learnings to the living. One of the earliest known hermetic scripts is the Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus.Within that, a tale is told of Hermes being confronted with a vision of the otherworldly entity Pymander, who takes the shape of a ‘Great Dragon’ to reveal divine secrets. Legacy of the Great Dragon fictionalizes this Hermetic Tradition, presenting the Great Dragon as the sun-eating Apep of Egyptian antiquity.

Peace: When Janet first asked me to contribute to HEROIKA, I struggled for an idea. Then I realised St. George’s Day was coming up in the UK, and I decided to rewrite the story of St. George. I went back to his Middle Eastern roots and made him a knight of the Crusades, one who is doubting his faith. Then I tied the resolution of the story to an island right off the coast of my home county, Hampshire, adding a dash of druid for extra mysticism.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

DRAGONS Throughout History by Janet Morris

Our “History as the Agreed-Upon Lie” began for the human species when we first painted animals on cave walls and left our hand-prints there; then in Mesopotamia where we cut decorations into monumental stones as early as the 12th century BCE. Were there ever dragons — real ones? Many cultures refer to them in myth and legend: some had legs; some but not all breathed fire; some lived in the ocean, others on land; some flew.
So perhaps dragons hide deep in our racial memory, going back to the days when we were the size of German Shepherds and lethal beasts ruled sea and ground and sky. Did we ever eat them? Today, the most fierce and proud of Western civilization’s professional warriors may refer to themselves as “snake-eaters” — not because of their dietary preferences, but because of their strength, determination, and competitiveness.For more than thirty years I, with my husband Chris Morris and other like-minded folk, have been exploring the heroic ethos as did Homer in his day and Shakespeare in his: not simply the “monomyth” of Joseph W. Campbell, but also heroism and anti-heroism as it has shaped our myth and cultures, and still does today. In novels we like to read and love to write, history and myth and legend mix and reinforce and explain and articulate one another as only the written word can do. Writers have depended on myth, legend, and history in disparate portions to create humanity’s greatest literature — the better the writer, the bigger the serving that writer gives us of history turned dramatic and allegorical.We live today in a time where anti-heroes are ascendant, which makes exploring the heroic ethos even more interesting. Was Achilles an anti-hero? Or a hero? Homer blamed him, at the start of the Iliad, for the many souls his petulance sent down to Hades; later, when the Amazon Queen Penthesilea insists on facing Achilles in single combat at Troy, he warns her in a demeaning fashion, then kills her with one blow to her breastplate. Then, taking off her helmet, he falls in love with her and kisses her dead mouth on the battlefield in an undisguised act of necrophilia. Humans are complex, have always been. Homer, better than most, showed us the manifold nature of the heroic heart.

When we had a chance to develop a series for Perseid Press called
“Heroika,” anthologies, books designed to treat the heroic ethos
throughout human history, we jumped at the chance. We called the first
of these anthologies, “Heroika 1: Dragon Eaters,” not expecting our
writers to take the “dragon eating” part seriously. But some of them
did. Some even offered me olden family recipes… These story span
man’s recorded myths and legends of dragon hunting, from the third
millennium BCE and Hittite/Hurrian Myth of Illuyankas to tales of
magical realism set today and tomorrow. The men and women in these tales
include hero-cult figures such as Heros Equitans, Rhesos of Thrace, who
preceded the myth of St. George and the Dragon yet embodied it, as well
as people who might live in your town, might have lived in your time, in
your grandfather’s time…. Heroika may yet present nonfiction articles
in subsequent volumes. This, the first
volume, relies solely on fictional tales… or does it?

So we ask you — no, better, we dare you to put aside your preconceptions and see what seventeen agile minds made of our call to duty as they each wrote a story about “Dragon Eaters” in human history, some about the men and women themselves, some about the myth, some about our racial memories.

Perseid Press specializes in writers who write dangerously for readers who read dangerously. In Dragon Eaters, people test themselves and their beliefs against forces of nature and hope to prevail with … the art of dragon killing:

“Dragons have been eating humans for centuries. Now heroes throughout history stalk their legendary foe. Learn how to hunt, kill, and eat the wild dragon. Never before has revenge tasted so good. A literary feast for the bloody-minded.

In Janet Morris’ anthology on the art of dragon killing, seventeen writers bring you so close to dragons you can smell their fetid breath. Tales for the bold among you.